Dry gummed adhesive tape feeding means



' Jan. 12, 194.3.

T. R. GAUTIER 2,308,463

DRYUMMED ADHESIVE TAPE FEEDING MEANS Original Filed Oct. 3l, 1939 Inval/22130?! Taevm/B, Gaue zf;

Patented Jan. 12, 1943 i UNiTED STATES DRY GUMIMED ADHESIVE TAPE FEEDING MEANS Trevor R. Gautier, Nashua, N. H., assigner to Nashua Gummed and Coated Paper Company, Nashua, N. H., a corporation of Massachusetts Original application October 31, 1939, Serial No. 302,199. Divided and this application October 4, 1941, Serial No. 413,640

2 Claims.

My present invention relates to serving or dispensing strip material such as adhesive tape, labels and the like, especially dry gummed tape. More particularly, it aims to provide improved feeding means for such material in association with machines or devices for serving or delivering moistened lengths of the material from a supply thereof, for sealing, packaging, labeling and kindred purposes.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 302,199, led October 31, 1939, as a continuation in part, as to all common subject matter, of my therewith copending application Serial No. 142,668, filed May 14, 1937, said application S. N. 302,199 now being Patent No. 2,261,359, dated November 4, 1941.

In the drawing illustrating by way of example one embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of the forward and intermediate portions of a strip server or tape dispenser equipped with a representative feed assembly or unit of the invention; and

Figs. 2 and 3 are top and bottom plans respectively of said unit of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing in more detail, Fig. 1 illustrates the invention in connection with a strip server or tape dispenser of the hand type suitable for use on store counters, at package wrapping stations, in shipping rooms and such lo- Y cations. In various respects, however, the invention is adapted for use with other than manual dispensers, including the semi-automatic and automatic types of such machines.

The illustrative machine of Fig. 1 comprises a frame or housing including side walls, one of which is indicated at I, a, iront wall 2, a rear wall (not shown) and an intermediate wall 3. The latter defines two main compartments for the machine, a rear compartment 4 providing a support, housing or well for the tape supply roll R, and a front compartment 5 forming a tank or reservoir for the moistening liquid. The framev further includes a bottom wall 6, the forward portion of which forms the bottom for said reservoir, and a rear portion thereof acting to support the tape supply R. One or more guide rollers, such as indicated at 1, may be disposed transversely in the tape well 4, to assist in positioning the roll of tape for feeding.

The machine is equipped with means associated with the liquid reservoir 5 for moistening the gummed underface of the tape T coming from the roll supply. In the illustrated example such means comprises a capillary mostening element or brush 8 set in the reservoir and projecting upwardly at the iront or delivery portion of the machine into the path of the tape so as to have moistening engagement with its underface. One or more positioning lugs 9 in the reservoir retain the moistener 8 in proper operative position. The rear wall 3 of the reservoir may be apertured at its upper part as at 3a to limit'the liquid to a level below the tape feeding and guiding means now to be described.

Such means, through the medium of which the tape T from the supply R is adapted to be advanced for delivery in moistened condition at the front end of the machine, comprises a feed and guide assembly or unit, sometimes herein referred to as the feed-guide plate or tape chute. Said assembly is disposed, preferably removably, at the top of the front compartment or reservoir 5, providing in effect a cover for the latter as well as a tape-guiding floor bridging across between the tape roll compartment 4 and the delivery station adjacent the moistener 8.

The illustrated feed-guide assembly comprises a bottom door plate or under guide element I0 and an overlying top plate or upper guide element Il. The latter is spaced from the bottom plate as by side flanges, one of which is se'en at l2 in Fig. l. This under element l0 and the upper element l||2 together define a feed throat or chute for the tape T. They may be separably related and suitably connected and held in place on the machine frame. As here shown, they are attached to each other as by interlocking formations such as the down projections4 I3 of the upper means received in corresponding openings Id of the bottom plate, with respect to which they may be turned or bent to avoid unintentional Withdrawal. This feed-guide assembly as a whole may be operatively disposed on the machine, as upon the frame sidewalls l, in which connection the latter may be recessed along their inner top edges to provide shoulders for receiving the opposite side edges of the assembly unit bottom plate IB.

The fore end of the bottom plate I9 may be upturned as at la to assist in directing the tape accurately up to and across the moistener 8. The front edge Ha of the upper plate H, adjacent the moistening end and delivery station may be similarly directed and also as shown is constructed and arranged to form a severing element or cutter for the tape. At its rear end the bottom plate lil desirably has a downturned lip lb adapted t0 receive the tape T from the roll R, and herein also otherwise functioning in a manner later to be 'referred to. The upper plate l I desirably has its rear end turned up as indicated at Hb to assist in guiding the tape into the feed chute, particularly in instances where the tape is cverfed, that is, it comes from the top of a tape roll supply wound gummed side in. The tape T as indicated in dotted line in Fig. l is underfed, that is, from the bottom of the roll supply R which is assumed to be wound with the gummed'face out. It is also to be noted that the oppositely deflected rear end portions or lips IOb and Hb of the bottom and top plate elements I and H form in effect a receiving throat into which the leading end of the tape is easily threaded, in initially setting up the machine or when installing a fresh roll of tape.

Thus the feed-guide assembly or tape chute comprises a ooring or floor element including the bottom plate IG underlying and defining a path for the tape, together with suitable guide means at the sides of and above the tape path and confining the advancing tape to the latter, such guide means being herein afforded by the top plate guide Il. The latter is longitudinally apertured or open for a substantial portion of its length, as indicated at l5, to expose the tape path. This top opening I permits the upper face of the tape T to be engaged, either by one or more of the operator-s fingers or by an appropriate presser device, to move the tape forwardly along its path as defined by the underlying floor.

Referring now especially to Figs. l and 2, the bottom plate lil of the flooring also has a longitudinal slot formation 2i)i rearwardly of its front or tape delivery end and extending back toward the rcll supply. The term slot is here meant to include a formation in the nature of a depression or recess with closed or partly closed bottom, and also a cut-out, aperture or through-opening formation. At least a portion of this slot formation 20 in the lower guide I0 lies vertically opposite the top opening I5 of the upper guide means.

In the space thus afforded in connection with the bottom plate i5 I provide a supplemental movable flooring or tape-supporting floor means adapted to have supporting engagement with the underfacaof the tape and to move in synchrony with the latter as the tape is advanced or fed forwardly for delivery. It will be understood that the tape is advanced by the operator, in the case of the manual machines such as herein shown, by placing his finger, or a number of fingers, on the exposed top face of the tape, over the movable flooring means, and moving his finger toward the front of the machine while pressing downwardly sufficiently to cause the tape and the underlying movable feeding and guiding or flooring elements to be moved with and by his fingers.

In the present example the longitudinal slot formation 20 of the guide flooring or under plate I5 has associated with it depending side flanges 2l. On these there is mounted a plurality of roller bearing elements 23 held against axial displacement as by cotter pins or the like 24, Fig. 3.

These bearings 23 support a longitudinally and rectilinearly movable element or feed slide 25 comprising a body or main slide somewhat longer than the bottom plate recess or slot formation 2E), so as to cover the latter at least in the rear or normal stationary position of the slide seen in the figures.

At the upper face cf the slide 25 is an integral or other upstanding projection, lug, crosspiece or the like 25, a rear wall of which is adapted to abut the back edge of the lower slot formation 20 as a stop. This member 26 desirably has a roughened part or element 21 at its top face for firm engagement with the tape, or such element may be separately formed and attached as by rivets or the like 28, Fig. 2. This corrugated, knurled, nuted or other gripping formation 21 of the member 25 such as here represented facilitates its non-slip engagement with the under and gummed face of the tape as the latter is pressed down upon it for a feeding operation.

The feeder slide 25 as a whole normally is held Y in and returned to its inactive position illustrated,

where it is in readiness for the next feeding action. Suitable spring means is provided for this purpose, herein represented by the coil spring 3D anchored at its rear end to the depending rear iiange portion Ib of the floor plate 20 and its front end secured to a nger 3| formed on or bent downwardly from the main portion of the feed slider 25. The latter is supported for easy feeding and return movement on the described bearings, on which it is laterally guided between the flanges 2l, while held in the vertical direction beneath the main bottom plate l0.

My invention is not limited to the particular embodiment herein illustrated or described, and I set out its scope in my following claims:

1. In a manual tape dispenser, in combination, a frame having at its rear portion a well for a tape roll and having a tape delivery station at its front end, a tape feeding and guiding assembly comprising a tape chute removably supported on the frame to extend between the tape well and the delivery station, said chute including a bottom flooring element and a top portion having a longitudinally extensive opening affording direct access to the top face of the tape by a nger of the operator, said chute also including guide means carried by the nooring element and paralleling the tape path, a tape-supporting platform vertically opposite the opening of the chute top portion and slidably mounted on said guide means for reciprocating movement lengthwise the chute, said platform constructed and arranged for firm feeding engagement by the underface of a section of tape pressed upon by anger of the operator and to be advanced with the tape and the operators finger thereby to feed the tape to the delivery station, stop means on the chute defining advanced and retracted positions for the sliding platform, and spring means on the chute normally positioning the platform in, and for returning it to, its retracted position.

2. Feeding and guiding means for manual tape dispensing machines of the type having a frame provided at a rear portion with a support for a tape supply and with a tape delivery station at a front portion, said means comprising a removable tape-guiding and feed assembly receivable on the machine frame between the supply support and the delivery station, said assembly comprising a flooring element defining a path for the tape, top and side guides to confine the tape to such path, a longitudinally extensive slot formation in the flooring element, depending flanges on the flooring element along the respective sides of its slot formation, transverse roller bearing members supported by the flanges, and a tape engaging and supporting slide carried by the bearing members and presented in the slot formation of the flooring element, said slide adapted to have the tape engaged atwise against it by direct pressure of one or more fingers of the operator and to be moved forwardly with the tape to advance it from the supply to the delivery station, and spring means for returning the slide to and normally holding it at the rear end of the slot formation of the flooring element.

TREVOR R. GAUTIER. 

